The Legacy of Wildness

A great many photographer's judge their work by how many images they've sold and published, or how many awards they've accumulated, and although Robert Glenn Ketchum has sold thousands of images and received numerous awards, he judges his work using a different measure. The success of his images and work is determined more by how they have personally affected people, and how they have changed their perceptions of the world and its fragile environment, forever. Ketchum is a passionate activist and artist. He is a man whose ideals guide not only his images and work, but his everyday existence.

Ketchum's reputation is primarily based upon his environmental work, but actually his work is much more diverse, almost schizophrenic. When you compare his environmental work with his "other" work (which is highly abstract and based primarily on pure color and design), you might question whether the same photographer could have possibly produced both. But it is that diversity that has allowed Ketchum to become one of the most successful contemporary photographers, including such recognition as having one of his images featured by Life magazine in their special Collector's Edition issue, The World's Greatest Photographs: 1980-1990.

Actually, Ketchum also owes part of his reputation to at least few other things. He has an unparalleled ability to work with people, including the ability to convince them to support his causes, which sometimes includes commissioning his projects. All of his environmentally focused books have come about from commissioned projects.

Ketchum also has received a lot of exposure from his exhibitions of large cibachrome prints. Early in his career he made the acquaintance of Michael Wilder, a master printer of cibachrome prints. This ongoing relationship, and Ketchum's ability to convince Wilder to print ever larger prints of Ketchum's work (up to 55x86 inches, the largest seamless size currently possible), literally made Ketchum's work stand out. There are few things which are as beautiful or breathtaking as a very large cibachrome print. Few photographer's have taken this extraordinary step, even with financial backing, to print such a significant amount of their work in this manner. One of Ketchum's best-selling large cibachrome prints, Sun Dance, was sold in a limited edition of thirty-three 30x40 inch prints. It took only three months for the entire edition to sell out and the last print sold for $12,000.

The Environmental Activist

But it is Ketchum's environmental photography and activism that has established his reputation. Although Ketchum had received commissions for earlier environmentally related work, it was in 1982 that he was commissioned to do a photographic study of the Hudson River Valley. Ketchum determined to produce not only the work requested, but also to use the commission to produce a work in the nature of "a national environmental metaphor." In 1985 this work was published as The Hudson River and the Highlands (1985, Aperture), his first widely distributed environmental book.


Following the success of The Hudson River book, Ketchum was commissioned to produce a work on the Tongass (the largest nonequatorial rain forest in the world). From 1985 through 1987 he spent a significant amount of time researching and documenting the serious mismanagement and environmental destruction which the U.S. Forest Service was allowing private corporations to inflict upon the Tongass. Words detailing the savage and wanton destruction of this rain forest simply could not provide the needed impact, but Ketchum's images revealed the undeniable truth. The book which resulted from this work, The Tongass: Alaska's Vanishing Rain Forest (1987, Aperture) was delivered to legislators and business leaders and forced them to understand the depth and severity of the destruction. The impact of the images contained in the book compelled the U.S. government to reassess its existing management policies for the Tongass, and resulted in legislation being passed in late 1990 preserving one million acres of the Tongass' old-growth forest and in creating five new wilderness areas.

In late 1991, Ketchum's Overlooked In America (Aperture) (featuring images from the Cuyahoga Valley National Recreation Area near Cleveland, Ohio) was published. The book was an out growth of what Ketchum had discovered through his research and work on the Tongass. What Ketchum had learned about the federal land management of the Tongass, turned out to be reflective of federal land management policies throughout the United States. "What I have learned about federal land management disturbs me as deeply as the issues surrounding the destruction of the Tongass forest. The further I have researched the national scope of this subject, the more concerned I have become," stated Ketchum. Since approximately one-third of all land of the U.S. is owned and managed by the federal government, the scope of the issues are almost impossible to fully comprehend.

Although there is a significant amount of information in this book, it is through his metaphoric use of images that Ketchum delineates many of the real issues affecting this nation's federal lands. His use of a photograph of a waterfall surrounded by vibrant Fall foliage is a typical example. As the viewer delights in the shear beauty of this calendar-like scene, the text reveals that the water raging over the crest of the falls is seriously polluted by a hazardous waste site upstream, both of which are contained in a national park. The image makes a resounding impact on the viewer, creating a lasting impression that words alone could never make.

In addition to a significant amount of environmental work published in magazines and other venues, it was these three books which firmly established Ketchum as a guiding force in environmental photography, and which have inspired many others to follow his lead. Ketchum's dedication to the preservation of the environment has earned him many accolades, the most significant of which are the United Nations Award for Outstanding Environmental Achievement, the Sierra Club's Ansel Adams Award for Conservation and recognition by the UNCED Earth Summit (Rio de Janerio, Brazil) in June, 1992.

Design, Color and Detail

But to focus on only his environmental work is to lose sight of the true breadth of Ketchum's talent. Although his work in raising the world's environmental consciousness deserves praise, so do his "non-environmental" images.

Ketchum's "other" work is expressive of his background in design and painting. These images evidence his outstanding ability to balance the multiple facets of design, color and detail in a single image, as few contemporary photographers can. His Twilight and Order from Chaos series are studies of pure color and detail. Ketchum indicates that the Twilight series sought to depict subject matter in a "single dominating color tone ... overwhelming the viewer's senses with pure color." Order from Chaos took the use of color even further, the "hyperactive images are radiant with color, and unrelentingly intense with detail ... they entwine the viewer with hallucinatory clarity."

Although a lot of his work could be described as abstract, his Stoned Immaculate series is extremely so. These images are all from a canyon location that Ketchum stumbled upon early in his career, a location he refuses to make public, but one to which he returns to for solace and escape. The rock formations and colors are stunning, yet subtle in their lack of detail and scale. Without any reference to scale, the viewer is unable discern the actual dimensions of the canyon walls and rocks, and Ketchum purposely uses these attributes to their fullest to confuse and confound the viewer.

Even Ketchum's Sundance Suite series, which contains a large number of landscape images, are still primarily studies in color and design. An example is his breathtaking image of Fall foliage showing a blend of colors made up of mountain sides and ridges, compressed onto each other, and illuminated by warm pre-dawn light. These images were created during his tenure as an artist-in-residence at Robert Redford's Sundance Institute from 1987 to 1990.

Background and Training

A look at Ketchum's background sheds some light on the development and course of his career. His education on its face appears to be very traditional. He received a B.A. in design from UCLA and a M.F.A. in photography from the California Institute of the Arts. His education, however, was greatly influenced by the events of the late sixties. Ketchum spent a lot of time photographing the emerging rock bands along the Sunset Strip (The Doors and Cream, among others). At the time, there was an extreme emphasis on creativity and experimentation, and Ketchum's work was (and still is) expressive of those influences. His "formal" art training included a significant amount of exposure to mediums other than photography, which influences can readily be seen in his images, as well as some of his other projects (such as his Chinese Embroidery project discussed below). The time and period has made an everlasting impression on Ketchum's psyche, and the manner in which he approaches life and his work. Enjoying a Grateful Dead concert is still a part of life he savors.

Ketchum, however, learned early in his career to balances his creative side with practical business and people sense. This was probably picked up from a family life where his father was a successful businessman. Entering the "real world" after college, Ketchum began teaching photography, conducting workshops and involving himself with, among other activities, the Los Angeles Center for Photographic Studies. It was at this time he sought and received his first one-year commission from the National Park Foundation, which later developed into the position of curator of photography for the Foundation (a position which he has recently returned). Learning the process for obtaining commissions, which has a significant "political side," was almost as important to Ketchum's career as was his photographic training.

Until recently it was very difficult to see a sample collection of Ketchum's images extending from his first black and white prints through his latest color images. Aperture released Ketchum's The Legacy of Wildness, which for the first time collects his works for the "first 25 years" of his career in one bound table top book. The book is not the political statement some his prior books have been, but rather a testament to his photographic and environmental accomplishments. The subject matter is wide ranging and includes black and white works from his Winters 1970-1980 and Planetary Graffiti series, and color works from Order from Chaos, The Hudson River and the Highlands, The Tongass: Alaska's Vanishing Rain Forest, Overlooked in America, Stoned Immaculate and Sundance Suite. The book does an excellent job at portraying his work and the selection of images is equally provocative.

Ketchum's more recent work is featured in two recently published books, The Presidio and Northwest Passage (both by Aperture). The Presidio deals with the unique heritage and issues that involve this landmark military facility being turned into a one of a kind urban park. In 1994 Ketchum sailed through the Northwest Passage and captured images of the little-known surrounding Arctic landscapes. The incredible imagery and stark landscapes show the incredible beauty and vastness of this great ecological arena. These images have been beautifully reproduced in Northwest Passages. These two books, as well as Ketchum's current body of work entitled California Suite, continue to show his unique blend of environmental advocacy and art in its truest sense.

The Technical Side of Ketchum: Cameras, Lenses and Film

Robert Glenn Ketchum's progression through equipment started in the same place as most photographers, with a good quality 35mm camera. Based upon a desire for higher quality and the ability to make ever larger prints, he moved to medium format and finally to a large format 4x5 field camera. But Ketchum was never satisfied with working with the 4x5 system because of its bulk. Early in his career he started searching for a better alternative, one which would give him the image size he needed to make large prints, but which provided greater portability and ease in use.

For most of his work, Ketchum has settled on the Pentax 6x7 camera system. This camera uses medium format film (120 and 220) and produces what most persons consider to the perfect image size and proportion, 6cm x 7cm. It is four times larger than the 35mm image, but proportioned the same, so it can be printed full frame for maximum enlargement. The camera is extremely well built and looks and operates just like a 35mm (only much larger). It has a full range of lenses and they are all excellent. Until just recently the entire system was very inexpensive (the prices in the last year have risen dramatically).

When Ketchum determines to travel light, he uses the Pentax 645 system. This camera is smaller than its cousin, but still uses 120 and 220 film. It produces a slightly smaller image size 6cm x 4.5cm, which is approximately 2.5 times that of a 35mm image. This camera has a newer design and the quality of the body and lenses equal the Pentax 6x7, although they generally cost more.

Pentax has financially assisted Ketchum with regard to his purchase and use of its equipment and he most of the equipment in both systems. Even without that help, Ketchum would still use these Pentax systems since they fit his shooting style. Ketchum rarely attempts to hold the focus on objects both in the near foreground (i.e., three feet) and at infinity. Medium format equipment, including the Pentax systems, are seriously limited in this regard without a lens that will provide "tilt" for extra depth of field. This is Ketchum's only serious complaint with the Pentax systems, since Pentax refuses to make a tilt lens (Canon has had several such lenses for its 35mm line for some time). If Pentax would make a tilt lens, they'd corner the professional landscape equipment market.

Ketchum always uses a solid tripod, cable release and locks the mirror up to ensure his images are as sharp as they can be. Rarely does he shoot where his lens isn't stopped down to the maximum lens aperture (i.e., f/22) for the greatest depth of field. He is not a fan of filters, and rarely uses even a polarizer or warming filter. Cloudy days are his favorites for shooting, but he is careful that the overall cast of the light is not too blue. Fujichrome films have always been his favorites, including the now very popular Velvia.

Chinese Embroidery of His Work

Ketchum is truly a gifted and creative artist, and although photography may be his primary medium, it is not his only one. As a current "short term" project (which started in 1983 and continues to this day), he has been to working with artisans of the Suzhou Embroidery Research Institute in China to create replications of some of his works in silk embroidery. The end result must be seen to be truly appreciated and understood. The infinite detail and painstaking work creates "images" which are almost indistinguishable from the original, yet they have a texture and dimensionality that the photographic image can never acquire. The years of painstaking work needed to create just one of these works, however, means that only a few will ever be made, and that each one will be "priceless."

Robert Glenn Ketchum can be E-Mailed at: Robert_Glenn_Ketchum@earthspirit.org

All images, except portrait, © Robert Glenn Ketchum. Images used with the permission of Robert Glenn Ketchum. All Rights Reserved. Article © 1996-1997 Kevin C. O'Neil, Eastern Light Nature Photography, Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

E-Mail: KevinONeil@AOL.Com